In both cases, the big acquirer in question decided to pass before ever getting serious. In other words, big technology companies did a preliminary analysis of whether or not they would buy a dying, but still potentially valuable rival. They came to their senses and skipped out on trying make a big messy purchase of a Canadian jewel.

Excuse us for being snarky, but, um, duh? Of course they looked at RIM. Why not?

If shareholders think RIM's about to be bought, they better read the whole story. And then they should reconsider those buy orders for the stock, because there are some scary nuggets of information in there.

[CEO Jim Balsillie] has indicated he wants to wait until the launch of RIM's new BlackBerry next year before deciding whether to engage seriously with potential buyers, people familiar with the matter said.

RIM's board wants co-chief executives Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie to focus on trying to turn around the business through the launch of new phones, better use of assets such as BlackBerry Messaging and restructuring, two sources said.

One more from Reuters:

"Selling the company or an economic joint venture is probably not in the cards right now," said the source. "Until you stabilize the platform, people are going to be very nervous about spending $10 billion or more."

Does anyone in the world (other than the board which was picked by the CEOs) have faith that Lazaridis and Balsillie can fix RIM? They've had four years to respond to the iPhone and they've totally whiffed.